SPOTTED ON SHELVES: Cheerios Ancient Grains Cereal

I guess they had to go with “Ancient Grains” because “Stuff You’d Find in a Lot of Products At Whole Foods” wouldn’t fit nicely on the box. (Spotted by Adam at Safeway.)

If you’re out shopping and see an interesting new or limited edition product on the shelf, snap a picture of it, and send us an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) with where you found it and “Spotted” in the subject line. Or reply to us (@theimpulsivebuy) on Twitter with the photo and the hashtag #spotted. If you’ve tried the product, share your thoughts about it in the comments.

There’s a company that makes really good gluten free pasta that calls themselves or the line Ancient Grains. I always wonder about that, it conjures up images of grain kernels found in pots in Egyptian pyramids next to mummies. The grains are being grown today, they’re not all that ancient… Tasty, though. Kamut and spelt are both types of wheat that actually did develop earlier than “modern” wheat and have some interesting genetic differences. Some people find they can tolerate kamut and spelt when they have trouble with modern wheat. This does mean that Cheerios isn’t interested in GF… Their original cereal uses wheat starch.

But kamut and spelt taste quite good, just different from the more conventional wheat. I’ve made bread with both of them individually (works just like wheat flour) and also like kamut or spelt pasta. Quinoa makes a good addition to pasta- I’ve even had quinoa cookies which were crumbly but quite tasty. So this Cheerios variation would be worth a try.